Your rights as an employee in Germany: contract, pay, hours, leave and dismissal

Under the Act on the Notification of Essential Conditions (Nachweisgesetz), your employer must give you the essential terms of your job in writing. At minimum this covers: the names and addresses of both parties, the start date, the end date of a fixed-term contract, the place of work, a description of the job, any probation period, the composition and amount of pay (including overtime pay, bonuses and allowances) and when it is paid, agreed working hours, breaks and rest periods, the rules for overtime, the amount of annual leave, any entitlement to training, the procedure and notice periods for termination including the three-week deadline for challenging a dismissal in court, and a reference to any collective agreements that apply.

Deadlines: the details on parties, pay and working time must be handed over on your first working day at the latest; the start date, workplace, job description, probation and overtime rules within seven calendar days; the rest within one month.

Form: the statement may be provided in text form, for example as an email attachment you can store and print, if the employer asks you to confirm receipt. On request, you are entitled to a version on paper with a handwritten signature. Electronic statements are not allowed in sectors with high risk of undeclared work, such as construction, hospitality, passenger transport, logistics and parcel delivery, building cleaning, security services and hairdressing and cosmetics.

Fixed-term contracts (befristeter Vertrag): without a specific reason, a contract can be limited to a maximum of two years in total, with up to three extensions within that period, and only if you have not worked for the same employer before. The fixed-term clause must be agreed in writing; otherwise the contract is treated as permanent.

The statutory minimum wage is €13.90 gross per hour from 1 January 2026 and rises to €14.60 on 1 January 2027. It applies regardless of working hours, so it covers part-time staff and minijobbers too.

Exceptions include apprentices, volunteers, young people under 18 without a completed vocational qualification, long-term unemployed people during their first six months in a new job, and certain internships: mandatory internships required by a study or training regulation, and orientation or study-related internships of up to three months.

Some sectors have higher binding minimum wages under collective agreements. You must receive a written pay slip (Entgeltabrechnung) in text form showing the pay period and how your pay is made up, including deductions.

Suspected minimum-wage violations can be reported to customs (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit, part of the Zoll), and the federal Minimum Wage Hotline answers questions on 030 60 28 00 28.

The Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz) sets these limits:

• Daily maximum: 8 hours per working day (Monday to Saturday). It can be extended to 10 hours only if the average over six calendar months or 24 weeks does not exceed 8 hours per working day.
• Breaks: at least 30 minutes if you work more than 6 and up to 9 hours, and 45 minutes if you work more than 9 hours. Breaks can be split into blocks of at least 15 minutes, and you may not work more than 6 hours in a row without one.
• Rest period: at least 11 consecutive hours between the end of one working day and the start of the next, with limited exceptions in sectors such as hospitals, hospitality and transport.

Recording working time: the Federal Labour Court ruled in September 2022 that employers must have a system to record employees' working time; the Federal Ministry of Labour confirms this already applies. Reform: in 2026 the federal government has been defending plans to replace the daily maximum with a weekly maximum. As of October 2026 the daily limits above are the law in force; check the current Working Hours Act before relying on any change.

Whether overtime is paid or compensated with time off depends on your contract or collective agreement, which must describe the rules for overtime.

The Federal Leave Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz) guarantees at least 24 working days a year based on a six-day week. For the usual five-day week, that is 20 days. Many contracts and collective agreements give more; the DGB reports five to six weeks as typical under collective agreements.

• Waiting period: you acquire the full annual entitlement after six months of employment. Before that, and if you leave in certain situations, you get one twelfth of the annual leave for each full month worked.
• When to take it: your employer must take your wishes into account unless urgent business reasons or other employees' priority wishes stand in the way. Leave should be taken in the calendar year; it carries over only for urgent operational or personal reasons, and then generally must be taken in the first three months of the following year.
• Sick during holiday: days on which a doctor certifies that you were unable to work are not counted as holiday.
• Leaving the job: leave you can no longer take must be paid out.

Public holidays are not deducted from your leave. Which days are holidays depends on the federal state; see the guide on public holidays in Berlin.

Telling your employer: if you are ill and cannot work, you must inform your employer without delay, together with how long you expect to be off. Many employers expect a call or message before your shift starts.

Doctor's certificate: if the illness lasts more than three calendar days, you need a medical certificate of incapacity for work (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung, AU) by the following working day. Your employer may ask for it earlier, even from the first day. If you have statutory health insurance, the doctor reports the incapacity electronically to your health insurer and your employer retrieves it (the eAU); you no longer hand in a paper copy, but you must still see a doctor in time and keep informing your employer. If you have private insurance, you still provide the certificate yourself.

Continued pay (Entgeltfortzahlung): once you have been employed for four weeks without interruption, your employer pays your full wage for up to six weeks per illness. After that, statutory health insurance pays sickness benefit (Krankengeld): 70 % of your regular gross pay up to the contribution ceiling (€5,812.50 a month in 2026), but no more than 90 % of your net pay. Sick pay and sickness benefit together are limited to 78 weeks within three years for the same illness.

Probation (Probezeit): during an agreed probation period of up to six months, either side can end the contract with two weeks' notice.

Standard notice after probation (§ 622 of the Civil Code): four weeks to the 15th or to the end of a calendar month. For dismissals by the employer, the notice period increases with length of service:

• 2 years: one month to the end of a calendar month
• 5 years: two months
• 8 years: three months
• 10 years: four months
• 12 years: five months
• 15 years: six months
• 20 years: seven months (always to the end of a calendar month)

Contracts and collective agreements can set different periods, but the notice period you must give can never be longer than the one your employer must give.

Form: a dismissal or termination agreement is only valid in writing on paper with a handwritten signature. A dismissal by email, text message, messenger or a scanned PDF is not effective, and the same applies if you resign.

The Protection Against Dismissal Act (Kündigungsschutzgesetz, KSchG) applies once you have worked for the same employer for more than six months, in businesses with more than ten employees (part-time staff count proportionally). Under it, a dismissal must be socially justified: it must be based on reasons related to you as a person (for example long-term illness), your conduct (usually after a prior warning, an Abmahnung), or urgent operational needs. In operational dismissals, the employer must also take social criteria into account when selecting who is dismissed.

Additional protection applies in particular situations, for example during pregnancy and up to four months after giving birth, during parental leave and from shortly before it begins, and for severely disabled employees, whose dismissal requires the prior consent of the integration office. If your employer has a works council, it must be consulted before any dismissal.

The three-week deadline: if you want to challenge a dismissal, you must file a claim with the labour court (Arbeitsgericht) within three weeks of receiving the written dismissal. This deadline also applies in small businesses where the KSchG otherwise does not apply. In Berlin, what counts is the date the claim reaches the court, not the date you send it. If you miss the deadline, the dismissal is usually treated as valid even if it was unfair.

If you are dismissed or your contract ends, register with the Agentur für Arbeit straight away; the job seeker guide explains the deadlines.

Works council (Betriebsrat): employees can elect one in any establishment with at least five permanent employees entitled to vote, three of whom are eligible for election. It is not set up automatically; employees have to initiate an election. A works council has information and co-determination rights, for example on working-time arrangements, and must be heard before dismissals.

Unions (Gewerkschaften): membership is voluntary. The largest unions belong to the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), for example ver.di for services and IG Metall for metal and electrical industries. Members typically get legal advice and representation in employment disputes.

Collective agreements (Tarifverträge): negotiated between unions and employers or employers' associations. They apply directly to union members of bound employers, and many contracts refer to a collective agreement for all staff. Where a collective agreement, your contract and the law differ, the more favourable rule applies to you.

• BEMA (Berliner Beratungszentrum für Migration und Gute Arbeit), run by Arbeit und Leben Berlin-Brandenburg, gives free employment-law advice to migrants, refugees and mobile workers. Its contact page lists German, English, French, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Arabic and Ukrainian. Book an appointment by phone or email.
• Faire Integration advises refugees and migrants from outside the EU on pay, working hours, holidays, dismissal and health insurance, free of charge, anonymously and in several languages. Since 1 January 2026 it has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, with advice centres in every federal state.
• Faire Mobilität, the DGB's advice network, helps workers from Central and Eastern Europe in their first language, free and anonymously.
• Unions: if you are a member, your union is the first port of call.
• Labour court (Arbeitsgericht Berlin): you can file a claim yourself using the court's forms (dismissal claim, payment claim) by post, fax or the court's letterbox, but not by email. The court's legal application office (Rechtsantragstelle) can record your claim but does not give legal advice.
• Lawyers: specialist employment lawyers are called Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht. The legal help guide explains low-cost advice options.